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TICONDEROGA. 



A TRIBUTE TO THE REVOLUTIONARY AND HEROIC EEEORTS OE 



ETHAN ALLEN 



AND HIS 



Green /Fountain Bo>s. 



BY 



ALFRED SWirT hOUGHTON. AA. D. 



^ 



Published by the Author at 

St. Albans. Vt.: 

St. Albans /Messenger Company Print. 

1897. 



y 

/ 



J 



XTo tbc flDemor\) 



of william french and daniel houghton, 

whose blood was shed at 

westminster court house, vermont, march 13, 1 775, 

for resisting what they instinctively 

recognized as an act of monstrous injustice, 

although adorned with the 

insignia and protected by the panoply of law; 

i inscribe these verses, that the freedom 

they fought to obtain may be maintained forever. 

Alfred Swift Houghton. 



PREFACE. 



The controversy concerning" the ownership of the soil of 
Vermont began in 1761. 

Land-titles up to that date had been granted tinder Let- 
ters Patent from the Crown by Benning Wentworth, the 
then Captain-General, Governor and Commander-in-Chief of 
His Majesty's Province of New Hampshire. That Province 
claimed and exercised jurisdiction over territory extending- 
from the West bank of the Connecticut River to a point es- 
teemed to be twenty miles East of the River Hudson, so far 
as that river extended to the Northward, and after that, as 
far Westward as Lake Champlain. 

Upon the fees and other emoluments which Gov. Went- 
worth received as compensation for those grants, the Gov- 
ernment of New York looked with an envious eye. Inas- 
much as the Governor of New Hampshire reserved five hun- 
dred acres of land in every township for himself, he was 
evidently laying the basis of an immense fortune. Wishing 
to thwart all such covetous procedure, and desirous of the 
profit arising from the sale of those lands, Cadwallader 
CoLDEN, Esq. , Lieut. Governor of His Majesty's Province of 
New York, on the 28th December, 1763, issued a proclama- 
tion, " coinmanding the Sheriff of the County of Albany to 
make a return of the names of all persons who have taken 
possession of lands under New Hampshire grants," and 
claiming jurisdiction as far East as Connecticut river, by 
virtue of grants made by Charles II, to the Duke of York in 
1664 and 1674. 

The controversy between the Governors of New York 
and New Hampshire, relative to jurisdiction over the terri- 
tory now constituting the State of Vermont, was, meanwhile, 
in no wise abated. That there was an acrimonious spirit grad- 



VI 

ually gTowing- up between the two Colonies, the following 
extract from Gov. Wentworth's Proclamation will demon- 
strate : 

" For Political reasons, the claims to jurisdiction by New York 
might have been deferred, as well as the strict inquisition on the civil 
power to exercise jurisdiction in their respective functions as far as the 
Eastern banks of Connecticut River. — * * * To the end, therefore, 
that the grantees now settled and settling on those lands under His 
late and present Majesty's charters may not be intimidated, or any way 
hindered or obstructed in the improvement of the lands so granted, as 
well as to ascertain the right and maintain the jurisdiction of His 
Majesty's government of New Hampshire as far Westward as to include 
the gi^ants made. 

I have thought fit, by and with the advice of His Majesty's Council 
to issue this Proclamation, hereby encouraging the several grantees, 
claiming under this Government, to be industrious in clearing and 
cultivating their lands agreeably to their respective grants. 

And I do hereby require and command all civil officers within the 
Province, of what quality soever, as well those that are not, as those 
that are inhabitants on the said lands, to continue and be diligent in 
exercising jurisdiction in their respective offices, as far Westward as 
grants of land have been made by this Government; and to deal with 
any person or persons that may presume to interrupt the inhabitants or 
settlers on said lands as to law and justice do appertain ; the pretended 
right of jurisdiction mentioned in the aforesaid Proclamation notwith- 
standing. 

Given at the Council Chamber in Portsmouth, the 13th day of 
March, 1764, and in the fourth year of His Majesty's reign. 

B. WENTWORTH." 

The controversy, thus begun by g-ubernatorial proclama- 
tion, was continued with much bitterness for a period of fif- 
teen years. In 1764, the matter in question was decided by 
Imperial decree in favor of New York, and the claim of that 
government to jurisdiction extending to the East as far as 
Connecticut river, was confirmed. "His Majesty was 
pleased, with the advice of his Privy Council, to approve of 
what is therein proposed, and doth accordingly hereby order 
and declare the Western banks of the Connecticut river, 
from where it enters the Province of the Massachusetts Bay, 
as far North as the 45th degree of North latitude, to be the 
boundary line between the said two Provinces of New 
Hampshire and New York. Wherefore, the respective Gov- 



ernors and Commanders of his Majesty's said Provinces of 
New Hampshire and New York, for the time being, and all 
others whom it may concern, are to take notice of His 
Majesty's pleasure and govern themselves accordingly." 

To this royal decree, different and widely variant con- 
struction was given. The settlers on the New Hampshire 
Grants considered that its fair operation was to place them 
under the future jurisdiction of New York. The govern- 
ment of that Colony, on the contrary, contended that the 
order had a retroactive and retrospective bearing, and deter- 
mined not only what should be, but what ahvays had been, 
the geographic limits of the Colony of New York. The set- 
tlers on the New Hampshire Grants inferred that the royal 
decree could in no wise affect their land-titles, or any past 
contracts. The New York authorities, taking a different 
view of the royal decision, insisted that the grants made by 
the government of New Hampshire were unauthorized by 
the Crown, and were, of course, illegal and consequently 
void. If the same interpretation had been given to the royal 
decree by the authorities of both Colonies, all historians unite 
in saying there would have arisen no controversy like that 
which was carried on with great acrimony from the year 1763 
to 1775. 

Seth Warner was no idle spectator during these exciting 
times. Whether he would yield up his property to a set of 
landsharks, or make forcible resistance, was a question upon 
which he took but little time to ponder. He advocated rc- 
sistcuwc: and warmly approved of the proceedings of that 
convention which assembled at Bennington, and — • 

''Resolved, To support their rights and property under the New 
Hampshire Grants against the usurpation and unjust claims of the Gov- 
ernor and Council of New York by force, as law and justice were denied 
them." 

This resolution was zealously supported; spirited and 
determined resistance to the authority of New York ensued. 
Several of the inhabitants of the grants were indicted as 
rioters. "A military association," says a cotemporaneous 
writer, " was formed, of which Ethan Allen was appointed 
Colonel Commandant, and Seth Warner, Remember Baker, 



Robert Cochran, Gideon Warner, and some others, were 
appointed Captains. Committees of Safety were, likewise, 
appointed in several towns west of the Green Mountains." 

The Sheriff of the county of Albany, to whom was en- 
trusted the duty of enforcing writs of possession, enjoyed an 
office which could hardly be denominated a sinecure. When- 
ever he appeared upon the grants with his posse comitatus — 
often numbering 750 men, all told — he was sure of being 
met by a party equally numerous, and determined to frustrate 
his object. Of such parties Seth Warner and Ethan Allen 
were the active leaders and Captains; and a proclamation 
was accordingly issued by the Governor of New York, offer- 
ing "A reward of ;^i5o for the apprehension of Ethan Allen, 
and ^50 each for Warner and five others." Determined to 
return the compliment promptly, Allen and Warner, and the 
other outlaws, issued a counter proclamation "Offering five 
poimds for the apprehension and delivery to any officer of 
the Green Mountain Boys, of the Attorney-General of New 
York." 

It will be borne in mind that the resolutions, adopted by 
the conventions of the people, were regarded as the law of 
the New Hampshire Grants. Every infraction of the law 
thus made, was followed by a punishment of great severity. 
That most frequently inflicted, was the application to the 
naked back of the "Beech Seal," and perpetual banishment 
from the Grants. The sentence of Ben Hough will serve 
my purpose as a sample of the punishment then in vogue. 
History tells us that Ben was a violent "Yorker," and resided 
near Clarendon. Receiving, by dint of importunity, an ap- 
pointment of Justice of the Peace within and for the county 
of Charlotte, from the government of New York, he was not 
content with the simple honor of the appointment. He 
seemed to be anxious to distinguish himself in the new 
position to which the partiality of the New York authorities 
had promoted him. And, certainly, he gained distinction ; — - 
but such distinction as might well be dispensed with, by all 
those who prefer the honors of a private station, to the unen- 
viable notoriety of cutting a most ludicrous figure on the page 
of history. 



After obtaining- his commission, he promptly proceeded 
to execute the duties of his newly acquired office. He re- 
ceived, but disregarded, the warning to desist which was 
served upon him by the "Committee of Safety." Being- 
found incorrigible, he was arrested and carried before a 
committee consisting of Ethan Allen, Seth Warner, and 
others who were proclaimed as outlaws. ' ' The decree of the 
convention," says Thompson's History, "and the charges of 
the prisoner being read in his presence, he acknowledged 
that he had been active in promoting the passage of a certain 
law, and in the discharge of his duty as a Magistrate ; but 
pleaded the jurisdiction of New York over the Grant, in 
justification of his conduct." 

But, sad to relate, although Ben's dilatory plea was, under 
ordinary circuiustances, worthy of consideration, this com- 
mittee disregarded it and pronounced upon him the following 
sentence, viz: — 

" That the prisoner be taken from tJie bar of this Commit- 
tee of Safety, and be tied to a tree, and then on his naked back, 
receive tico linndred stripes; his back being dressed, he should 
depart out of the district, and on return without special leave 
of the conventio)i, to suffer death.'' 

This sentence was carried into execution in the presence 
of a large concourse of people : and at his request the follow- 
ing certificate was furnished for his future reference : — 

"Sunderland, 30th January, 1775. 
This may certify the inhabitants of the New Hampshire Grants, 
that Benjamin Hough hath this day received a full punishment for his 
crimes committed heretofore against this country ; and our inhabitants 
are ordered to give him, the said Hough, a free and unmolested pass- 
port toward the city of New York, or to the westward of our Grants, he 
behaving himself as becometh. 

Given under our hands the day and date aforesaid. 

ETHAN ALLEN, 
SETH WARNER." 

When this paper was handed to Ben, Allen observed that 
the certificate, together luith the receipt on his back, would, 
no doubt, be admitted as legal evidence before the Supreme 
Court and the Governor and Council of New York, although, 
in several instances, to his knowledge, the King's warrant to 



Gov. Wentworth and His Excellency's sign manual, with the 
great seal of the Province of New Hampshire, would not. 

I now quote from an extraordinary law enacted on the 9th 
of March, 1774, by the General Assembly of New York: 

" Sfxtion 5. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, 
that, if any per.son or persons, within the said counties or either of them, 
not being lawfully authorized a judge, justice or magistrate, shall as- 
.sume judicial power, or shall try, fine, sentence or condemn any person 
who shall either be absent or shall unlawfully or forcibly be seized, 
taken, or brought before him or them for trial or punishment ; or if any 
person or persons shall aid or assist in such illegal proceedings, or shall 
enforce, execute or carry the same into effect; or if any person or 
persons shall, unlawfully seize, detain or confine, or assault and beat 
any magistrate or civil officer, for, or in respect of any act or proceed- 
ing in the due exercise of his function, or in order to compel him to 
resign, remove or surcease his commission or authority, or to terrify, 
hinder, or prevent him from performing and discharging the duties 
thereof ;***** that then, each of the said offences respective- 
ly be adjudged felony without benefit of clergy; and the offenders 
therein shall be adjudged felons, and shall suffer death as in cases of 
felony without benefit of clergy y 

It was made the duty of the Governor to publish the 
names of such persons in the Nciv York Gazette & ]\ eek/y 
Mercury, as should be indicted for any capital offence, with 
an order in Council commanding such offenders to surrender 
themselves within seventy days after the publication thereof, 
7iiider tJic penalty of being convieted of felony and to suffer 
death ivithout benefit of elergy! ! 

With the passage of such a law as this, every prospect of 
reconciliation and submission to the claims of New York 
evaporated. The New Hampshire grantees, suspecting the 
action of the New York authorities to originate in the avarice 
of a set of speculators who coveted their lands — knowing that 
the people of New York felt no disposition to aid in enforc- 
ing such claims — satisfied that the popular sentiment was 
highly favorable to the rights of the settlers — and being 
aware, from past experience, that the militia of the Colony 
could never be induced to contend against them — regarded 
with contempt every threat or legal enactment intended to 
inspire terror. "Indeed," say the Vermont State papers, 
" the idea of .s7//;////jr.s7'c;i// seems never for a moment to have 



occupied the attention of the handful of brave men against 
whom these measures were directed. Educated in the school 
of adversity, and inured to hardship and danger, they met 
and sustained the shock with a firm, unbroken spirit." 

' ' Let it not be said that the infliction of this barbarous 
punishment proves that the people of the Grants were less 
civilized than the people of other parts of New England ; for 
long afterwards this relic of barbarism was found in the 
criminal code of all the States ; but a more advanced state of 
civilization has since broken up the habit by which it had 
been continued through generations of civilized man, and it 
has been exploded never again to find a place in the code of 
any of the American States." 

Aside from reasons heretofore given for retaliation on the 
part of the Green Mountain Boys, it need not escape remem- 
brance that as necessity drove them to resistance, so sound 
policy would naturally dictate that such resistance should be 
of a character to inspire a full and firm belief that it would 
be effectual. 

The New Hampshire grantees were by no means so en- 
grossed with their own troubles as to be indifi^erent to the pol- 
icy pursued by the Mother Country toward her Colonies in 
America. As the settlers were chiefly emigrants from Con- 
necticut and Massachusetts, they sympathized with the feel- 
ing of discontent which prevaded those Colonies. Those 
residing on Connecticut river, who had surrendered their 
original charters and taken out new grants under the broad 
seal of New York, and had submitted to the jurisdiction of 
that Colony, were comparatively unconcerned spectators of 
that bitter controversy in which the grantees on the West 
side of the Mountains were interested. The massacre, as it 
was called, of the i^tJi of March, at Westminister Court 
House, however, exasperated them and raised a tumult of 
opposition to New York. At a meeting of Committees ap- 
pointed by a large body of inhabitants on the East side of 
the range of Green Mountains, held at Westminister on the 
iit/i day of April, 1775, it was 

" Voted, That it is the duty of said inhabitants, as predicated on the 
eternal and immutable law of self-preservation, to wholly renounce and 



resist the administration of the government of New York, till such time 
as the lives and property of those inhabitants may be secm-ed by it ; or 
till such time as they can have opportunity to lay their grievances be- 
fore his Most Gracious Majesty in Council, together with a proper re- 
monstrance against the unjustifiable conduct of that government ; with 
an humble petition to be taken out of so oppressive a jurisdiction, and, 
either annexed to some other government, or erected and incorporated 
into a new one, as may appear best to the said inhabitants, to the Royal 
wisdom and clemency, and till such time as his Majesty shall settle this 
controversy." 



The foregoing preface is from an address delivered by 
my father, George Frederick Houghton, before the legislature 
of the vState of Vermont, October 20, 1S48. 



TICONDEROGA. 

May jot/i, 177 J. 



PROLOGUE.— Vermont. 



r?^^^' 




" UPON WHOSE BROWS ETERNAL SNOWS." 



Those lofty fells and lowly dells 

Which justify our pride ; 

Those haughty hills, whose humble rills 

Both health and wealth provide, 

Upon whose brows eternal snows 

In virgin wreaths abide ; 

Are shod in May with sandals gay 

And vestured as a bride. 



Blue-hued Champlain and George adorn 

This radiant retreat, 

Here clover red and golden corn 

With violets complete 

A lovely scene, where blue with green 

Hai"moniously blends. 

And not a hue of green or blue 

Artistic eyes offends. 




■' KLUE-HUEI) CHAMPi.AIJN AND GEORGE ADUKN. 



But beautiful as are the dales 
Which charm the artist's gaze. 
And bountiful as are the vales 
Where herds contented graze, 
The valiant dead these valleys bred 
More admiration rouse 
Than gardens fair or meadows where 
Buds swell and cattle browse. 



For in this park the first live spark * 

Of Revolution's flame 

Was flashed from steel as an appeal 

For flint-like action came ; 

That spark, borne well, in tinder fell, 

Glovv^ed ardently until 

The blare of shell and glare of hell 

Burst forth on Bunker Hill. 




-^^.U^mm^jL^ 




'^•^'■f - ^-g^'- 



' THESE PENSIVE CRESTS." 



These pensive crests, whose lavish breasts 

A race of shepherds nursed ; 

These muraled spires, beneath which choirs 

Psalters of war rehearsed ; 

Vigilant stand. May all the land 

Their precepts teach to-day 

'Mid strife and calm, with sword and psalm, 

In marble, type and clay. 



* The Westminster Massacre, Marcb 13, 1775. " The first hlood of the momen- 
tous conflict that gave birth to a Nation." 



The Hampshire Grants. 

These mountains gieen which guard and grace 

Champlain's historic shore, 

Shall never shield a nobler race 

Than tracked their wildness o'er, 

Ensconsced a valiant settlement, 

With axes anthems rang 

And while their plows deep furrows rent 

Glad Hallelujahs sang. 




THESE MOUNTAINS GREEN M'HICH GUARD AND GRACE 
CHAMPLAIN'S HISTORIC SHORE." 



What sought those pilgrims 'mid this wild 

Uncultivated mold ; 

Why leave a climate soft and mild 

For one so rough and cold ? 

They here with dauntless courage sought 

Political repose. 

And 'mid free play of act and thought 

Nobilities arose. 



Their temples were majestic glades, 

Their treasury the soil, 

Their workshops 'mid the modest shades. 

And plenty blessed their toil ; 

Here winged the wise, industrious bee, 

Deer leaped, wild squirrels played. 

Sweet sap enriched the maple tree. 

And beavers castles made. 




THEIR TEMPLES WERE MAJESTIC GLADES." 



As beavers built, as hived the bees 

What blushing clover bore. 

So hewed they homes, and for their ease 

They thatched their garnered store. 

Their minds were graced with love of God, 

Their souls with virtues smiled ; 

As cultivation decked the sod 

So freedom groomed the wild. 



Free men, like trees, in texture gain 

Where fierce commotions rave, 

As storm-rocked oaks wax strong in grain, 

So hectored men grow brave ; 

And peasants born where Satyrs breed 

Are oft' of noble brain, 

When wronged, no stars their course impede 

Till justice they obtain. 



Thus nourished on the fruitful lawn 

Which formed the '"''Hampshire Grants,'' 

Were oak-framed men with limbs of brawn 

And minds like flowered plants. 

They blossomed forth with righteous zeal, 

Bore fruit of wisdom rare, 

And swore no king should rights repeal 

Nor despots trespass there. 



They scourged the dupes of Torv swav, 

They laughed their writs to scorn, 

They planted seed whence since their day 

Forests of deeds were born. 

No tyrants heel shall bruise the soil 

\\ here their true scions dwell. 

No man be born to fruitless toil 

Who heeds the tale I tell. 



Ethan Allen. 

Among heroic deeds, which art 

Should flood with lasting fame, 

One stands unique and not apart 

From Ethan Allen's name. 

Our Allen was an outlaw, he 

Plain justice loved, not law ; 

His eyes were keen, his tongue was free, 

He spake when wrong he saw. 



For years Green Mountain pioneers 

From Clinton's Cabinet 

Had asked for justice ; but with jeers 

Had their complaints been met; 

With posse comitatus he 

A Sheriff sent, but they 

Unawed by mere authority, 

The Sheriff drove away. 



And when ambition to command 

A magistrate displayed. 

They tied him to a sapling and 

His epidermis flayed. 

" Fve had enotigh" said old Ben Hough, 

" To satisfy my taste^ 

Por noiv I wear a ' beech seal ' xvhere 

My shotilders meet my wa/'st." 



Then when New York's Commander phiced 

A price on Allen's head, 

The famed Green Mountain boys he faced 

And pale with passion said : — 

'■'• Brave 7nen ; the Governor's decree 

Has banished us from Jiome ; 

F'rorn wives and young' and wiiled that we 

As outlaws forth must roam. 




" IF WE OBEY, FKOM THI.S KAIK GLEN. 



If we obey ^ from this fair glen 

Which from a sterile shade., 

T'he brawny arms of honest 7nen 

To fertile fields have made^ 

From cabins fringed with gardens fair 

Which we have cleared and taught^ 
Fortli tmist ive go, nor with us bear 
Auo-/it that our hands have 7vrou<rht. 



Here viust we leave our moss-curbed zve/ls, 

The hives where workers hum. 

The tranquil glens, the fragrant dells 

Where grouse and partridge driiin ; 

These babbliiig brooks, the troufs retreat. 

Shall Jill our creels no more. 

Our orchards, vines and meadows sxveet 

Shall blossom as before; 




'THESK BABBLING BROOKS, THK TKOrx'S RKTREAT.' 



But gleaners will, the harvest reap 
Who've neither plowed nor bred. 
And eat the fruit and shear the sheep 
Where we have pruned, and fed. 
Thus round our hearths in ease zvill dwell 
Those whose vile aim will be 
To trafnple e'en the buds which sxvell 
With joys of liberty.- 



dan faw give szvects to drones zcho've ne'er 

One drop of Jioney Jiived ; 

To idlers,, crops of which no spear 

At their command has thrived? 

Plai)i justice^ God's handmaid^ though blind^ 

Permits no such disgrace ; 

AH nature bozvs zvith love inclined 

Before its JSIaker s face. 



Yon fr trees to the darkened shy, 

Where rain clouds sullen broody 
Uplift their thirsty lips and sigh 
As if in gratitude ; 

While tasseled grain and fozvers fair 

S?n/le on the rising sun, 

And turfz their eyes i/i silent prayer 

When it's days course is run. 



Wise nature tests atid ever has 
The laws which meti decree ; 
'•Do unto others ahvays as 
Thou' st have them do to thee,' 
Is zvrit on mountain, moor and mead 
In blossom, fruit and grain ; 
Where all can see, though fczv can read 
The syjnbols quaint yet plain. 



Are lue as free as yonder bee , 
As szv/fi to strike for right ; 
Shall ive as cozvards turn and fee 
Or shall ive draw and fght ; 
Did nature bless our labors so 
1 hat some bold idler s hand 
Might be extended to and fro 
To decij7iate the land ? 



Bring us no kingly docu))icnt 

To drive us from our oicn, 

A better right they must present 

Than any they have shown ; 

^Vf? parchment deeds can e'er repeal 

The sacred rights of man^ 

Nor mar though bearing royal seal 

The beauty of God's plan. 



Upon such rights, upon such plan 

We standi the future face. 
Nor fear that J7istice ever can 
Ignore so plaiii a case. 

What say you, mat, shall we be slaves P" 
Throughout the glade there rang 
A thunderous "TVb, not serfs nor knaves^ 
Then to then- arms they sprang. 



And then like bees, so swift in flight 

When honey they conceal, 

So quick to sting and guard their right 

'Gainst those who come to steal. 

They sped, these heroes, far and wide. 

With w^ords inspired-like, 

They roused the '•'• Grajits^'" and all decide 

To draw their blades and strike. 



On one side haughty hate and greed 

With cruel craft allied. 

The other joined a righteous need 

With patriotic pride. 

And on the hands which sparrows feed 

For sustenance I'elied. 

Hark ! o'er the land with pinioned speed 

The shots of Concord ride. 



Ticonderoga. 

Defiance stands magnificent 
Where Champlain's ripples lave, 
And like a mossy monument 
O'er war's forgotten grave, 
Would fain revive and keep alive 
The memory of those 
Who in their day, and in their way. 
Against oppression rose. 







:j^ .J^a 



■ DEFIANCE STANDS MAGNIFICENT 
WHERE CHAMPLAIN'S RIPPLES LAVE." 



Here bathed in waves that rise and fall 
With rhythmic grace replete, 
Which play a tattoo on the wall 
Where their pulsations beat, 
The ruins sleep that verdant keep 
Bold Ethan Allen's name. 
And in their dust preserve in trust 
His brave companions' fame. 



H 



'Twas here one eve in early May, 

Around a maple tree, 

There stood a few in homespini gray, 

A group of eighty-three. 

Seth Warner, tall, was standing l^y 

Remember Baker's side, 

While Ethan Allen's eagle eye 

Flamed with a modest pride; 





^T i^^^=??''^5?S^pS%^^:;;_^;- ^__ ,■ ^, C "^ 


■ ■■<»r;*^':^#^-^'^:' :r/ ,- 



" SOME CAME FROM WHERE WINOOSKI WOUND 
IT'S COURSE AMIU THE ROCKS." 



He welcomed with unstudied grace 

Each new arriving clan, 

And motioned to his proper place 

Each armed and trusted man : 

Some came from where Winooski wound 

It's course amid the rocks. 

And others whence the settlers found 

Subsistence foj" their flocks: 



15 



Through trackless forests, swift as deer, 

They came to meet the foe, 

A band of men unmoved by fear 

Come victory or woe. 

No Gracchi ever lived so true. 

So noble, brave or great ; 

As gathered here in buff and blue 

To liberate a state. 



Seth Warner, Baker standing by, 

To Ethan Allen said : — 

" ' Tis better on the Jield to die 

Than in a craven^ s bed. 

Though bloody carnage ineets my sight 

A coniproniise I\i spurn, 

But feel as Jiercer JJoxvs the Jight, 

Our course they cannot turn. 



The lordly red-coats, trenched behind 
Ton citadel., are Jit 
Companions of the YorksJiire kind 
Of Magistrates^ who sit 
In judgment on us pioneers., 
Who justice seek in vain., 
uAnd outlaw us, that titled peers 
May our possessions gain . 



i6 



If I could reach the public brain 
A spirit rd instill ; 
That ivould not let freemen abstai)i 
From efforts here until 
They dtvell ift peace^ enjoy pursuits^ 
On land their arms have cleared, 
And unmolested eat the fruits 
Whose parents they have reared." 




— " UNTIL 
THEY DWELL IN PEACE, ENJOY' PURSUITS 
ON LAND THEIR ARMS HAVE CLEARED." 

" Well spoken, Warner," Baker cried, 

'"'-But e er yon settiftg S2in 

Another daily race in pride 

Has smilingly begun. 

The red-coats in that castle there 

Shall blink their soddeft eyes, 

As they behold ns masters ivJiere 

They never dreamt surprise. 



17 



Xo blandishments can fascinate 
Our plain, determined band, 
Nor cruel threats intimidate 
W/iom Allen doth command. 
Though scaffolds rise before our eyes 
Umvavering xve'll stand. 
From every drop of blood, a crop 
Of men shall cloud the land." 



Then Ethan Allen made reply :— 
''■Brave men, no cro'tvns compare 

With honors such as these, and I 

Tour -weal or woe will share ; 
And whensoever God may mind 

To end our mortal life. 

E'en though the dreaded summons find 

Us ranged in deadly strife. 



Or, if a halter round our throat 

Hangs from a gibbet tree. 

Let our demeanor then denote 

That zve have died to free 

Our brethren from the cruel grasp 

Of pestilential need. 

Our Country from the slavish clasp 

Of Britain s selfish greed. 



So noxv to business : Set// //as sa/d 

He brings ns Jifty /iien. 

Ten more bv Hat/iaivay are led. 

A)id Jiftee/i more by I>en ; 

From D/immer' s Fort still more recruits.^ 

Jjv midnig/it s/ioiild arrive. 

If Safford slips t/ie Tory brutes. 

He^ll fetcJi full t/iirty-five ; 



Alore t/ian tivo //undred t/ien, bv dawn., 

S//ould gat/ier on t/iis s/iore^ 

To folloxv., xv/ie)i zvit/i cutlass drawn., 

I start for yo/ider door : 

A part to enter t/iere xvit/i ?ne. 

And full possession take. 

T/ie rest to strike for liberty 

Wit/i War)ier^ up t/ie lake." 



With eighty-three he crossed the lake 

At dawn, in clumsy scows, 

And as they landed gravely spake : — 

"■ Our God t/iis deed allows. 

We can secure, if soft our tread. 

T/ie sei/try to a st/td. 

T/ie fortress capture., and not s/ied 

A single drop of blood.'' 



^9 



And then, as Warner led the way 

With Baker to Crown Point, 

They all beheld pontific day 

Postulant hills anoint; 

They softly to the entrance crept, 

The sentry quickly vised, 

And while the troops unconscious slept 

Their haughty chief surprised. 



" What 7neans this most seditious, rude 

Invasion of my rest; 

By zvJiose com/nand do you intrude 

And make this xvild behest .?"' 

Thus spake the captain as loud cheers 

Re-echoed through the fort. 

'■'•By God's and my Assembled Peers^" 

Was Allen's keen retort. 



And thus the zeal of Lexington 

Ticonderoga won. 

Soon afterwards at Bennington 

Vermont's distinguished son 

Stood close to Stark, whose cannon's bark 

A dogged answer hurled. 

Which o'er the yell of Hessian shell 

Was heard around the world. 



20 



EPILOGUE. 

These mountains green still guard and grace 

Ticonderoga's crag, 

And visitors yet plainly trace 

The ruins where the flag 

Of independence still is found, 

Who'll dare to haul it down 

Wherever man a slave is bound 

By title, law or crown? 




' AND THOUGH THESE WALLS TO DUST DECLINE. 



And though these walls to dust decline 

With each advancing year, 

Although a few for titles pine 

And royal statues rear. 

The loyal son of these green hills 

In memory confined. 

Their glory keeps, and wisely tills 

The meadows of his mind ; 



21 



He burns the weeds of Tory creeds 

Which in that garden sprout, 

That efforts rare may blossom there 

And waft their seeds about ; 

That heroes grand may always stand 

As models for the young, 

That lyrics true, some old, some new, 

In praise of them be sung. 




"A WILD SEQUESTERED SPOT." 



Such men deserve that noble art, 

The spot where they were born. 

With grandest works of hand and heart 

Should cherish and adorn. 

Their graves may deck some modest place, 

A wild, sequestered spot, 

But dust like theirs, imparts a grace 

Which obelisks cannot. 



22 



Though we neglect their dark abodes, 
Embahned in caskets real, 
Where neither moth nor rust corrodes, 
Nor thieves break through and steal, 
They sleep in undisturbed repose, 
Grand inspirations urge, 
Dismaying foes, assisting those 
Who round God's standards surge. 



Each mobile nation has its tides. 
Zeal ebbs, ambitions flow. 
The ship of State at anchor rides, 
Pomp comes, precautions go, 
About the keel of common weal 
Cling barnacles and grow. 
While on each side, corroding pride 
Permits its rust to show. 



'Tis true that Britain's blazoned bars 

Were banished from these hills. 

But British intrigues cloud our stars, 

Her envy shuts our mills. 

Her policies our statesmen quote. 

Her silliness we ape. 

And slowly with oiu' voice and vote 

Our course by her we shape. 



33 



In varied ways we tributes pay ; 
Our rugged, noble sires, 
These solid hills of granite gray 
With frost enamelled spires, 
To dust and ashes would have turned, 
As their swift temper rose, 
And any tithes in anger spurned 
Which Britons dared propose. 



Yet down where fertile fields surround 

The Orinoco's mouth. 

Where Nature's ample stores abound 

To bless the sunny South, 

To tempt the shrewd cupidity 

Of Britain's selfish greed. 

And mock the dull stupidity 

Of those in stressful need ; 



A people stand expectantly. 

As we reluctant wait. 

While Envy treads on Liberty, 

An Empire on a State. 

No mountain chain nor difference 

Of color, speech or creed. 

Can alter man's allegiance 

To men who justly plead. 



Green Mountain yeomen rise anew 

Your pulses "throb with blood," 

The nourishment of Mammon's crew 

Is Gokl's deHling mud, 

The zeal which lit your mountain sides 

Unquenchable remains. 

And in the hearts where it abides 

The love of freedom reigns. 



That spark which flamed your verdant youth 

Can heat e'en vet'ran age. 

Illumine with it's shining truth, 

And kindle with it's rage, 

A holy patriotic fire, 

Love mounting high and valor higher, 

A lotty pyre whose righteous ire 

Mammon can ne'er assuage. 



FINIS. 



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